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The Equality Herald - East Tennessee's source for LGBT community news |
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Loved and accepted – just the way you were created One of the most frequent conversations I have with
I spent most of my adult life struggling with the
conflicts of being gay and being a member of a
Like earlier generations, I thought that others spoke with a clearer understanding of the Biblical revelation than I could. In the not so distant past, slavery was justified by Christians who felt they had a supreme revelation from God that allowed them to keep other human beings as property. They misused the Bible to prove they were right. The obvious male bias of the biblical authors and the male-dominated society of ancient Israel led others to misinterpret the scriptures in such a way as to justify keeping women as inferior to men and disallowed women the right to serve in leadership positions in the church and society. Thanks to brave theologians and ordinary Christians, who fought against such wrong beliefs, our generation is free to believe that such interpretations of the scripture no longer justify keeping other people in inferior positions in society, the home, or the church. Freedom of thought regarding same-gender love and the scriptures is allowing a new generation of believers to find acceptance, affirmation, and inclusion in Christian churches today, even while the battle rages on within many denominations to keep out anyone professing to be homosexual or anyone supporting a homosexual person. Perhaps it is important to remember that just because
a person is a Christian, a pastor, a priest, or even the Pope, that person
does not have final authority to
By studying the “clobber passages” misused by many fundamentalists against homosexuals you will begin to see how these verses are lifted out of their context and made to say things that aren’t consistent when interpretation is based on putting the same scripture back into its contextual surroundings. Many Christians come to the scriptures with a bias of
thought that does not allow them to see the truth as revealed by a serious
reading of the text. That is to say, if a person believes homosexuality is
wrong, he or she will seldom have that opinion changed if they are not
open to other interpretations and evidence. Many will Let us start with the oldest of the “clobber passages,” the story of Sodom and Gomorra from Genesis chapter 19, which is a story of inhospitality to strangers, not a story about homosexual sex. God’s angels come to Lot in Sodom to tell him that God has decided to destroy the city (Genesis 18,) and that Lot and his family were to leave before the destruction took place. The angels are seen by the people of the city, who wish to confront them, interrogate them, and probably abuse them physically. In that ancient time, strangers were often beaten into submission, and, yes, sometimes violently raped by other men. Such rape was to take away the stranger’s masculine power, to remove the threat they presented to that community. Victorious armies often abused those they had beaten in battle, especially the defeated leaders to demonstrate their power over them. This is not a story about homosexual sex, but it is a story about violent physical abuse. In Ezekiel 16:49 the prophet says, "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor, and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49) Jesus pronounces the sin of Sodom as that of inhospitality toward strangers in Matthew 10:15. In later columns, I will look at other so-called “clobber” passages and try to give you an opposing way to understand them rather than the way fundamentalist Christians would rather have you believe. It is important that gay and lesbian Christians understand the Biblical text, and if possible, even defend our acceptance by God to others who would remove us from God’s grace and mercy because we are different from them. You are loved and accepted by God exactly the way that God created you. In Jeremiah 1:5 God says to the prophet, "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you.” You cannot change your sexual orientation, but you can change the way you understand the scriptures and your homosexuality. Have respect for yourself. Stop letting yourself be abused by other Christians. Their spiritual violence upon you is as much a sin as the violence threatened to the angels in Sodom. Follow the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:12 –15 "When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they do not welcome you, quietly withdraw. Do not make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. You can be sure that on Judgment Day, they will be mighty sorry—but it is no concern of yours now. “ There are several churches in the Knoxville area that are welcoming, affirming, and inclusive of those who are GLBT. Three that come to mind quickly are Church of the Savior (UCC), Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and Metropolitan Community Church of Knoxville. There are other churches that may welcome you into worship and even membership, but be wary, they may not ever allow you into leadership positions if your sexual orientation becomes public knowledge. If you are tired of hiding in the fundamentalist closet of religion then find a church where you will be welcomed for yourself, just the way God created you! If you would like to know more about what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality, let me share with you two possible ways to get your answers: Go to http://www.mccknoxville.org/CG.php where you can read the online pamphlet: “Homosexuality and the Bible,” by Rev. Jim Richards, former pastor of MCC Knoxville. Rev. Richards passed away in 2005. 2. Attend “The Bible is a Queer Book” study taught by Rev. Bob Galloway, Senior Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Knoxville, on February 17, from 10 AM to 1:30 PM, including lunch. For more information contact Rev. Ray Neal at hrnjr@comcast.net For directions to MCCK go to http://www.mccknoxville.org/directions.php
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GLBT
persons concerns their experiences with churches and religious leaders as
they struggled with coming out. Most of them met with condemnation and
judgment as well as the opinion that they could not possibly be gay and
Christian at the same time. Many were told that there was no place in
church, much less in heaven, for them if they did not give up their
homosexuality.
fundamentalist
church. It is important to realize that the conflicts were mostly caused
by other people’s interpretations of the scripture, not my own
understanding of the scriptures and, more importantly, not by God. I let
everyone else tell me what the Bible was saying, rather than reading it
and interpreting it for myself. 
interpret
the scriptures for anyone else. Yes, they can give their opinion, but it
is only that, just an opinion. The thinking person will gather lots of
opinions, examine the scriptures in several translations, research the
history involved, if possible analyze the use of the language and
vocabulary, and prayerfully come to their own position of belief.
never change their opinions and will hang on to wrong beliefs, much like
the Catholic church did for centuries regarding the concept that the earth
is not the center of the universe or even our solar system. It only took
them 500 years to say that Galileo was not wrong with his theories. 
